Gridlock Guy: Atlanta traffic lost its mind Thursday…and Friday (Macon: crime, job market)

[citydwelling]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Are the neighborhoods around I-20 dead zones?

Yes. I-20 runs along the entire southern border of my neighborhood and it absolutely creates a giant dead zone even larger than Hulsey Yard between our neighborhood and the neighborhoods to our south. Thank you for mentioning that as it proves my point.

Originally Posted by MattCW

AAnother classic case of letting the wants of the few outweigh the needs of the many, and we're all far worse off for it.

Your post is a classic example of wanting the desires of commuters who live elsewhere to outweigh the needs of the people who actually live in the neighborhoods we're talking about. This has happened far too often all over Atlanta and we're all far worse off for it.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by cqholt

And yet an SUV driver killed a person on a scooter and gets 0 chargers

If the guy in the scooter indeed pulled out right in front of her, as the story so far says, then there’s nothing to charge her with. It would be his fault for not giving right of way and possibly running a stop sign.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by citydwelling

Yes. I-20 runs along the entire southern border of my neighborhood and it absolutely creates a giant dead zone even larger than Hulsey Yard between our neighborhood and the neighborhoods to our south. Thank you for mentioning that as it proves my point.



Your post is a classic example of wanting the desires of commuters who live elsewhere to outweigh the needs of the people who actually live in the neighborhoods we're talking about. This has happened far too often all over Atlanta and we're all far worse off for it.

You live in a major metro. No matter which way you slice it, you gotta have ways to move large numbers of people around. Transit is only one piece of the pie. Large roads and highways are going to exist and they need to serve the major job centers.

And nearly every hot neighborhood is very near an interstate. It does not seem to have killed much.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by cqholt

I guess that all depends on how you look at it. Are car commuters from the suburbs worst? Yes. Are residents of those neighborhoods worst? No.

Aren't they? You really think a line of traffic idling at a light, or just plan idling in traffic 20 feet from their front doors is somehow better? Again, the traffic didn't not come because of the lack of a highway, it came anyways, and parked itself on the front yards of those neighborhoods.

Originally Posted by citydwelling

Yes. I-20 runs along the entire southern border of my neighborhood and it absolutely creates a giant dead zone even larger than Hulsey Yard between our neighborhood and the neighborhoods to our south. Thank you for mentioning that as it proves my point.

What part of I-20? If you're talking about rural nowhere, then...not exactly sure you can call that a "deadzone" the whole area is dead. But I'm talking about the in-town neighborhoods. I go through them frequently, the only things fronting I-20 are backyards. The rest isn't a dead zone, you can see this yourself in Google Maps.

Your post is a classic example of wanting the desires of commuters who live elsewhere to outweigh the needs of the people who actually live in the neighborhoods we're talking about. This has happened far too often all over Atlanta and we're all far worse off for it.

You do realize that Atlanta wouldn't really exist as a large city with all those comforts you love without the "commuters who live elsewhere" right? No large city IN THE ENTIRE WORLD has zero suburbs and commuters. The difference is elsewhere, they see the influx of people as a resource to be bolstered rather than like a disease to be eradicated.

[Saskia Calico]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Also keep in mind that I-75 through North Georgia and metro Atlanta carries interstate/transcontinental traffic headed to (and from) Florida not just from cities along the I-75 corridor like Windsor, Detroit, Toledo, Dayton, Cincinnati, Lexington and Knoxville, but also carries interstate/transcontinental traffic headed to (and from) Florida from points north and west like Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville and Nashville.

I-75 through North Georgia and metro Atlanta also carries much freight truck traffic headed to and from the growing international seaport at Savannah along with the massive amount of all types of interstate/transcontinental traffic that it carries to and from Florida.

What helps to make the traffic so bad on I-75 through an area like McDonough and Henry County is the massive amount of local/regional commuter traffic that is added to the road along with the massive amount of interstate/transcontinental traffic generated by points south like the Port of Savannah and Florida.

Like alco89 refers to, northbound I-75 traffic from Florida and westbound I-16 truck traffic from the Port of Savannah merges onto one roadway (I-75 northbound) at Macon and is funneled through the Atlanta metro area on one I-75 roadway that basically has only three northbound lanes through the McDonough area.

Meanwhile, southbound I-75 traffic from points north (Knoxville, Lexington, Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, Detroit and Windsor/southwest Ontario) and I-24 eastbound traffic from points northwest (Nashville, Louisville, Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis) merges into one roadway (I-75 southbound) at Chattanooga and is funneled through the Atlanta area on the I-75 and I-285 southbound roadways.

It is a massive amount of local and through traffic that the I-75 corridor (and I-285 West Wall corridor) is being asked to handle on roadways with limited capacity, particularly through the McDonough area where I-75 basically only has three through lanes in each direction with a reversible toll lane that was just added a couple of years ago.

The merging of 2 lanes of I-675 southbound traffic into a 3-lane I-75 southbound roadway in the Stockbridge area (that had 4 southbound lanes before the GA 138 exit north of the I-675 merge) is also another factor that contributes to a massive bottleneck of traffic along I-75 southbound through the McDonough area.

GDOT basically takes 4 lanes of already extremely heavy traffic on I-75 southbound, merges it down into 3 lanes at GA 138, then dumps 2 more lanes of very heavy traffic from I-675 southbound into those 3 lanes of I-75 southbound through the McDonough area, and (with the exception of the reversible toll lane that opened in 2017) pretty much absolutely refuses to widen the road and provide meaningful alternatives (like an Outer Perimeter bypass and a high level of high-capacity mass transit for local and regional commuters) to deal with the exceptionally heavy traffic.

It makes absolutely no sense for GDOT to expect a 6-lane I-75 roadway through Henry County to be able to handle 12-20 lanes worth of traffic at peak times.

They should never have turned so much rail traffic into road traffic. I know trains have wrecks, but at least shipping by rail lessens the amount of truck traffic on the roads. I also know that some people say the interstates were built for long-distance trucks and not for people in cars. But if the railroads could have stayed active, passenger trains would also have kept passenger cars on the interstates to a minimum. If not for local commuting, then for through traffic.

But societies usually don't go back to what they did in the past.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Saskia Calico

They should never have turned so much rail traffic into road traffic. I know trains have wrecks, but at least shipping by rail lessens the amount of truck traffic on the roads. I also know that some people say the interstates were built for long-distance trucks and not for people in cars. But if the railroads could have stayed active, passenger trains would also have kept passenger cars on the interstates to a minimum. If not for local commuting, then for through traffic.

But societies usually don't go back to what they did in the past.

That is a good point that they should have never turned so much rail traffic into road traffic, but make no mistake that there is also a large and rising amount of freight traffic that is being moved by rail between the greater Atlanta metropolitan area, the greater metro Atlanta/North Georgia region and the explosively fast-growing Port of Savannah that serves as metro Atlanta's and North Georgia's sea link to the rest of the world.

But much like the explosive and rapid growth at the international seaport at Savannah has basically completely outstripped the ability of the Interstates to handle all of the increased freight truck traffic that growth has generated, the explosive and rapid growth at the int'l seaport at Savannah has also basically outstripped the ability of the railroad tracks to handle all of the increased freight rail traffic that the growth at the Port of Savannah has generated.

Georgia officials talking about expanding the shipping capacity of the freight rail network between metro Atlanta and the Port of Savannah, but (as with the roads and the transit network) movement on that front by state officials likely will be slower than desired.

There is also the reality that most of our economy (including retail and commercial, industrial and logistical development) is built almost completely around the road network, so it very often is quicker for many businesses and corporations to just ship cargo by truck, even with the frequent traffic delays on the road network.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

The person on the scooter likely killed himself by riding the darn thing in the dark, where he wasn't supposed to be and with disregard to his environment. Smack right back at ya.

Scooters are equipped with small lights and are allowed to be ridden after dark. Ordinance says Scooters are to be ridden in street. Now if the person who died disregarded a stop sign, then that's on him but we cannot ask him because HE DEAD.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

If the guy in the scooter indeed pulled out right in front of her, as the story so far says, then there’s nothing to charge her with. It would be his fault for not giving right of way and possibly running a stop sign.

We can't ask him his side of the incident because HE DEAD.

[citydwelling]

Originally Posted by MattCW

What part of I-20? If you're talking about rural nowhere, then...not exactly sure you can call that a "deadzone" the whole area is dead. But I'm talking about the in-town neighborhoods. I go through them frequently, the only things fronting I-20 are backyards. The rest isn't a dead zone, you can see this yourself in Google Maps.

Reynoldstown. And yes, I consider a "dead zone" to be a giant highway buffer with no vegetation or buildings or life of any kind in it that prohibits easily traveling between two adjacent neighborhoods. Call it what you like, it's a dead zone to me.

Just because Atlanta built a lot of awful suburbs doesn't mean that commuting into the city is more important than the thousands of people simply trying to travel around the neighborhoods where they both work and live.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by citydwelling

Reynoldstown. And yes, I consider a "dead zone" to be a giant highway buffer with no vegetation or buildings or life of any kind in it that prohibits easily traveling between two adjacent neighborhoods. Call it what you like, it's a dead zone to me.

Just because Atlanta built a lot of awful suburbs doesn't mean that commuting into the city is more important than the thousands of people simply trying to travel around the neighborhoods where they both work and live.

Originally Posted by MattCW

What part of I-20? If you're talking about rural nowhere, then...not exactly sure you can call that a "deadzone" the whole area is dead. But I'm talking about the in-town neighborhoods. I go through them frequently, the only things fronting I-20 are backyards. The rest isn't a dead zone, you can see this yourself in Google Maps.

It's a dead zone, not pleasant crossing it on foot, bike, or scooter.